Posts Tagged ‘NBA Fantasy’

Time to celebrate as basketball DFS is back thanks to DraftKings! They’re hosting multiple tournaments for the olympic games, but what is the right strategy to win? Well..Targeting players who play heavy minutes for their national team is crucial in putting together a successful squad. Here are a couple of players you should consider building your lineup around this weekend.

Alex Garcia, Brazil ($3,400)- Small Forward is a tough position to fill as most of the elite players are way over-priced, while the mid-tier players just aren’t that great. This brings me to one of the best value plays at the position and on the slate. Introducing Alex Garcia, who has averaged about 13 points, 5.5 rebounds, and three-to-four assists per game in the last couple of FIBA tournaments he has played in. Now those stats are for his club team and not the international team, but Garcia is likely to play a lot of minutes for Brazil and he only needs to score about 10 points, grab five rebounds, and dish out three assists to produce close to six times his value. It is hard to find quality value plays, so selecting a player like Garcia will free up some salary to pick some more expensive players.

Luis Scola, Argentina ($7,300) – I could have him on this list just for his silky smooth hair alone, but that doesn’t really help us in terms of fantasy production. First off, don’t be scared by his bad NBA numbers because Scola is the face (or is it hair?) of Argentina basketball. During the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship Olympic Qualifying Tournament (a total of 10 games), Scola averaged a remarkable 21.1 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. In the 2014 FIBA World Cup, he averaged 19.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in six games. His price tag is a bit high, but he will play huge minutes and be the primary scoring/rebounding option for his team.

Mantas Kalnietis, Lithuania ($5,200) – Probably the best mid-tier selection on the slate as M.K. averaged 10.6 points, three rebounds, and 7.8 assists in nine games in the 2015 Euro Basketball tournament. He is listed as a SG on DK, but is more of a PG for the Lithuanian squad. Those numbers result in roughly 27 fantasy points, which would be more than five times his price tag. He’ll be a fixture on all of my teams this weekend.It is hard to target USA players because most of them are over-priced and they should blowout China, so it is hard to predict how many minutes each player will get. Demarcus Cousins is probably the safest fantasy player on the team because he can extend defenses with his long range shooting skills and he’ll likely grab double-digit rebounds. However, the PF position is loaded with players who cost less than he does, but could put up similar fantasy numbers (like Ike Diogu and Dario Saric). Fading USA players is the way to go this weekend.

Josh Johnson- when healthy he is one of the most dominant pitchers in the game

in 2010 he had 186 Ks, 11 wins, 2.30 ERA, 1.11 WHIP in 183.2 innings ESPN has him ranked as the 37 SP, and 128 Overall

Johnny Cueto had some numbers last year, a 2.31 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 9 wins and 104 Ks, in 156 IP.

Matt Latos- numbers weren’t that bad last year in 194.1 IPs he had 185 Ks, 9 wins, 3.47 ERA and 1.18WHIP.

Kevin Youkilis

Matt Moore is ranked as the 19th Best pitcher and 75th player overall. That is way to high for a rookie.

Ike Davis ranked 24th among 1B, and 208th overall

Jemile Weeks is a guy I like a lot, he is ranked 16th among 2B and 202 Overall

Ichiro Suzuki

Dee Gordon should be close to leading the Majors in SBs, hes now the leadoff hitter for the Dodgers. is ranked 13th among SS and 133rd overall. in 224 Abs he scored 34 runs, had only 11 rbis, but did steal 24 SBs and hit .304.

In this weeks edition of All Things Fantasy I talk about players to pick up, but mostly discuss trades and play a game with in-studio guest Isaac Stock. Its fun and informative. Will update on Sunday about what players to add that I didn’t to get to talk about.